Associate Creative Director @ Earnest

Our mission is to make higher education accessible and affordable for everyone. We empower students with financial support and supercharge their ability to pay down their debt, so they can get on the right financial track, fast.

We build tools that help people feel in control of their financial future, including:

Private student loans - low rates, people-first service, and flexible payments.
Student loan refinancing - break free from high-interest rates or monthly payments.
Scholarships - access to thousands of scholarships to help students pay less.

Earnies are committed to helping students live their best lives, free from the stress of student debt. If you’re as passionate as we are about our mission, read more below, and let’s build something great together!

The Associate Creative Director will report to the Head of Brand.

As the Associate Creative Director, you will:

Lead and execute standout design work on high-priority projects, rolling up your sleeves when needed
Provide mentorship and constructive feedback to a growing team of designers and copywriters, fostering craft excellence and continuous improvement
Drive the evolution of Earnest’s visual identity and design systems, ensuring consistency and rigor across every touchpoint
Partner with cross-functional teams—including Product, Growth, and Marketing—to deliver creative solutions that align with business objectives and resonate with customers
Oversee and direct agency and contractor work, ensuring creative excellence across all external partnerships
In this role, you'll combine strategic thinking and deep business knowledge with creative excellence to develop visual systems and campaigns that resonate across all marketing touchpoints.
You'll lead the conception and execution of innovative design and copy solutions that drive measurable consumer engagement, while ensuring our brand maintains its distinctive point of view.

About You:

10+ years of design experience with at least 3 years leading creative teams
A portfolio showcasing integrated brand campaigns and technical design execution with measurable business impact
Exceptional leadership, mentorship, and people management skills
Advanced proficiency in design tools (Figma, Adobe Creative Suite)
Strong storytelling and presentation skills, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders
Deep understanding of marketing channels and measurement
You’re a strategic thinker at heart, with a sharp eye for design systems and a proven ability to translate business objectives into compelling visual narratives that drive measurable results.
You love collaborating across disciplines—partnering closely with writers, producers, marketers, and researchers to bring ideas to life.
You’re as comfortable presenting to leadership as you are playing around in Figma.

Even Better:

Experience with photography, motion animation, or video
Familiarity with emerging tools (AI, automation) to scale creative output
Proven ability to stay ahead of design trends and push brand innovation
Experience working in a regulated industry and creating compliant yet impactful creative work

Where:

This role will be based in the US

#LI-GA1

A little about our pay philosophy: We take pride in compensating our employees fairly and equitably. We are showcasing a range of your potential base salary based on the roles location. The successful candidate’s starting pay will also be determined based on job-related qualifications, internal compensation, candidate location and budget. This range may be modified in the future.

Pay Range

$142,900—$178,700 USD

Earnest believes in enabling our employees to live their best lives. We offer a variety of perks and competitive benefits, including:

Health, Dental, & Vision benefits plus savings plans
Mac computers + work-from-home stipend to set up your home office
Monthly internet and phone reimbursement
Employee Stock Purchase Plan
Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
401(k) plan to help you save for retirement plus a company match
Robust tuition reimbursement program
$1,000 travel perk on each Earnie-versary to anywhere in the world
Competitive days of annual PTO
Competitive parental leave

What Makes an Earnie:

At Earnest, our people bring our cultural principles to life. These principles define how we work, how we win, and what we expect of ourselves and each other:

Every Second Counts: Speed is our competitive advantage. Our customers need better solutions, and the faster we execute, the greater our chance of success.
Choose To Do Hard Things: We win by tackling the hard things that others avoid, fueled by grit and resilience.
Pursue Excellence: Great companies, teams, and individuals never settle and are proud of the work that they do. What’s good enough today won’t be good enough tomorrow. Excellence isn’t a destination; it’s a mindset of continuous improvement.
Lead Together: Our success comes from how we work together. Leadership is not about titles—it is about action. We take ownership, drive results, and move forward as a team.
Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously: We take our work seriously, not ourselves. The stakes are high, but a sense of humor keeps us grounded, creative, and resilient.

At Earnest, we are committed to building an environment where our employees feel included, valued, and heard. Our belief is that a strong commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging enables us to move forward with our mission. We are dedicated to adding new perspectives to the team and encourage anyone to apply if your experience is close to what we are looking for.

Earnest provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability or genetics. Qualified applicants with criminal histories will be considered for the position in a manner consistent with the Fair Chance Ordinance.

Associate Creative Director

Earnest

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